Miracles and Massacres by Glenn Beck

their supplies and muskets so they might run that much faster. They fled through Southampton, and then Northampton, as quickly as they could, hoping they might find refuge in the Independent Republic of Vermont before Lincoln found them.
    Major General Lincoln’s Headquarters
    Hadley, Massachusetts
    January 30, 1787
    Benjamin Lincoln was encamped at Hadley, barely ten miles to Shays’ west. Lincoln could have advanced on him at Pelham, but chose not to. The township was too rugged and too heavily defended—swarming with the greatest concentration of “Shaysites” known to Christendom.
    Benjamin Lincoln would not attack Pelham. At least, not yet.
    Instead, he sat down to compose a letter. Perhaps, he thought, blessedreason might finally work to end this unfortunate episode and an offer of mercy might go further than a twelve-pound cannon shot.
    And so, in a fine hand, he wrote to Captain Shays.
    Whether you are convinced or not of your error in flying to arms, I am fully persuaded that you now realize that you are not able to execute your original purposes. Your resources are few, your force inconsiderable, and hourly decreasing from the dissatisfaction of your men. You are in a post where you have neither cover nor supplies, and in a situation in which you cannot hesitate for a moment to disband your deluded followers.
    If you do not disband, I must approach and apprehend your most influential men. Should you attempt to fire upon the troops of Government, the consequences must be fatal to many of your men, the least guilty. To prevent bloodshed, you will communicate to your privates, that, if they will instantly lay down their arms, surrender themselves to Government, and take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth, they shall be recommended to the General Court for mercy.
    If you should either withhold this information from them, or suffer your people to fire upon our approach, you must be answerable for all the ills which may exist in consequence thereof.
    Well , Lincoln sighed, let’s pray that that works .
    Regulators’ Headquarters
    William Conkey’s Tavern
    Pelham, Massachusetts
    January 30, 1787
    Daniel Shays figured that if he had to hide out from General Lincoln’s army, old William Conkey’s Tavern, remote even by Pelham standards, was as good a place as any.
    Particularly when the fugitive was also its most distinguished patron: Daniel Shays.
    Gone were the days when Shays exhorted his “troops” with vain or glorious boasts. “My boys,” he had lectured them not long before, “you are going to fight for liberty. If you wish to know what liberty is,I will tell you: It is for every man to do what he pleases, to make other folks do as you please to have them, and to keep folks from serving the devil.”
    If that was the definition of liberty, then these men were experiencing the opposite. Few at Pelham were now doing what pleased them—instead they hunkered down to defend their very homes.
    Shays pondered Lincoln’s offer. He didn’t particularly like his opponent’s tone or his threats, but an offer of pardon had its charms. Except, and here Shays read very, very carefully, the offer clearly extended only to noncommissioned recruits. That didn’t do much for him or for his fellow officers like Adam Wheeler. A “general pardon” would be necessary. Until then, it was best to stall for time.
    Pelham, Jan. 30th, 1787
    To Gen. Lincoln, commanding the Government troops at Hadley,
    Sir: However unjustifiable the measures we have adopted in taking up arms against the government, we have been forced to do so. The people are willing to lay down their arms, on the condition of a general pardon, and return to their respective homes. They are unwilling to stain the land, which we, in the late war, purchased at so dear a rate, with the blood of our brethren and neighbors.
    Therefore, we pray that hostilities may cease